WATCH: Kildare singer-songwriter Pete Kavanagh highlights clerical abuse in 'Mercy' video

A simple tale told in black and white encapsulates the anger of Pete Kavanagh in the new music video for his latest song ‘Mercy’.

The single is the third to be released from the Kildare singer's debut album Join Up the Dots, which is set to land on November 5th. The Americana-infused track tackles one of the countries most stigmatised issues, supporting victims of clerical and state abuse.

The video - directed by Mary Duffin and shot in black and white - tells the story of a man journeying to confront the priest who abused him in his youth. Pete Kavanagh himself plays the protagonist, while his son portrays the younger version of the character. Ominous close-up shots and heavy use of Christian iconography hint at the dark underbelly of the story without having to spell it out.

“I attended primary school in Ireland in the late 1970s, a school with an obligatory Catholic ethos. I witnessed daily displays of physical and mental abuse,” Peter said. “There was also sexual abuse. The Christian brothers, nuns, priests, teachers and community at large appeared to accept this behaviour as normal.

“By the mid-'90s, I was an angry young man with a guitar. I wrote songs to vent my anger and express my emotions. Music was a healing force, a form of therapy. It was during this period that I heard Christine Buckley (Dear Daughter) recount her horrific experience of life at St. Vincent’s Institutional School (Goldenbridge) in Inchicore, Dublin. Her story moved me to tears and it inspired ‘Mercy’. I feel now is the right time for this song to be heard.”

Watch the emotional video below:

Revisit Hot Press editor Niall Stokes' exploration of sex abuse in Belvedere College here